


Bonds of War

by marvelsamwilson



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-25 06:04:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12524672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelsamwilson/pseuds/marvelsamwilson
Summary: Loki Laufeyson, an American soldier during WWII, is injured in battle. He meets an army medic named Sif who helps nurse him back to health, and in turn they form a connection with each other that helps them both.





	Bonds of War

**Author's Note:**

> Please forgive any historical inaccuracies, I'm not a history or war buff in the least.

On a frigid day in Normandy, France, a mass of green tents covered a large swath of land in the French countryside. It was 1944, and the second World War had raged on for years, taking millions of lives in the process. The Allied forces had set up medical encampments to treat injured soldiers in battle so they could quickly be returned to the lines.

On this morning in October, an undetected landmine had gone off on the battlefield, injuring several soldiers. One was hit with a piece of flying shrapnel, slicing open his abdomen. Two of the larger and more stout U.S. soldiers helped carry their wounded comrade into one of the medical tents to receive treatment, using their shoulders to support his lanky frame.

They found one of the emptier tents, which had only one other patient sleeping on a outstretched bed, and led him through the green flaps. The two nurses inside both looked up from their supplies to eye the visitors, before one of them yelled out, “I’ll take him.”

She was tall herself, with shoulder length dark hair and a slender face. She wore a standard issue white nurse’s dress that looked like it had been washed several times over, but been unable to completely remove all the blood stains. She made her way over to the soldiers, “Set him up on the table here,” she directed. The two soldiers followed the orders, lifting the injured trooper up onto the table before exiting out of the tent.

“So what’s your name, Private?”

“Loki, Loki Laufeyson. Of the 31st Infantry,” he responded quietly, piercing her gaze with a sharp, green-eyed stare. His hair was jet black and slicked back, and a little longer than usually allowed by regulation, implying he had been in the field for a long time.

“Pleased to meet you, Loki. I’m Sif, I’ll be taking care of you,” She spoke with a heavy country twang, indicating she was American and mostly likely from the South. “Now let's get that shirt off you and see the damage.”

Loki obliged, carefully unbuttoning his uniform shirt and revealing a pale, slender frame, marked with a bleeding 6-inch gash across his abdomen.

“Ooh, we got a big one. That’s gonna need stitches,” she informed him.

Loki smiled uneasily at the news, as he had an apprehension towards needles.

“You’ll be fine,” Sif assured him. “I’m the finest stitch person in this infantry, you’re in good hands.” He looked noticeably relieved.

Sif stitched him up in a few minutes, tightly closing the cut and stopping the flow of blood. She took a minute to admire her work, her hand caressing the newly formed scar.

His body shivered as she ran her cold fingers along the skin next to the wound.

“Sorry,” she blurted when she noticed him jump, “I forget that I'm out in this tent all day so my fingers get cold as ice.”

“It's ok, I don't mind it. Please, continue as you were.”

She smiled in relief and began to dress the wound with sterile bandages.

“So, tell me how someone so quiet and unassuming finds himself out here in battle?”

Loki ruminated on the question for a while, before finally answering. “I...honestly don’t know. I’ve never had a taste for combat, or a desire to join the ranks,” he paused, “...but I come from a military family, so it was always expected of me to serve. My father is a decorated general, and my brother is a highly touted officer moving up the ranks. So once the war started, I didn’t have much of a choice.”

Sif looked disheartened by his answer, as she quietly folded up unused bandages before she spoke again.

“I see. It must be tough, coming from a family with so many expectations, to ever really have a path of your own.”

Loki nodded silently in agreement. 

“I just have to make the best of it - and make it out of here alive.”

“Well, you’re not doing a great job of it so far,” Sif shot at him, causing him to painfully stifle a laugh.

“Sorry!” she blurted, “Don’t laugh too hard now, you’ll rip those brand new stitches.”

“Noted, I’ll do my best,” he promised her. “So how about you, were you also born into a service family?”

“No, I actually grew up in an orphanage.”

“Oh...pardon my question. That must've been rough.”

“It was. But no rougher than what you boys been going through out there. We all got our battles.” 

“Indeed,” he nodded. 

She continued, “I was lucky that at the age of 10, I found a family that wanted to take me in. My mom was widowed and living with her two sisters, and she already had three daughters of her own. So I’ve had the pleasure of growing up in a house full of women.”

“Interesting...,” Loki thought to himself for a moment, before asking his next question, “So what did you do, before this I mean? Were you a nurse back home?

“Oh gosh no,” she replied, “You have to have a university education to do that, and unfortunately I had not the time nor money to attend school. I worked at a small cafe on the outskirts of Ashland, Kentucky, with my aunts and sisters. My family owns the farm that supplies produce for the cafe, and in turn they gave us jobs waitressing and bussing the tables.”

“Sounds lovely,” Loki said grimly. 

“Eh, it’s a living. I’m just happy to make enough money to put away towards purchasing my own home someday. I love my sisters, but there’s zero privacy - or silence - living with them.”

Loki’s eyebrows arched in surprise, “Oh, no husband then?”

“No, I’ve never had any luck in that department. Between working at the cafe and helping out on the farm in my downtime, I’ve never really had the opportunities to meet anyone of interest.”

“I see,” Loki said quietly as he processed the new information. After a few moments of silence between them, Sif made her way over to the table and began to lift his arm around her neck.

“Ok, up with you,” she said as she helped to lower his long legs down to the grass, “we’re gonna move you to an empty bed now so you can get some rest.”

“Gently!” She shouted, after Loki tried too quickly to stand on his own, grimacing in pain.

“Sorry, sorry. Guess I’m not as strong as I think I am.”

“Aw now, you’re pretty tough. Just foolish. And weak from the loss of blood. We’ll get you back right in no time.”

He smiled meekly at her, not sure if she was just putting on a show or if she genuinely meant it.  
She walked him over to an empty bed near the back of the tent, away from the noise of front and the cold air drafting through. With him being so tall, Sif had to have him curl up a bit to get his legs to fit on the bed without hanging off.

“Thank you,” he said as she draped a blanket over him, “For everything.”

She smiled in return, “You just get some rest. We’ll check out how you’re doing in the morning.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loki awoke to the loud sounds of soldiers wailing in pain, and the hustle and bustle of several medics attending to them. He spotted Sif’s silhouette among the moving bodies, and tried to rise up to get her attention.

“Whoa, stay right where you are mister,” she warned him, a stern look on her face. “I’ll come to you.”

Loki obeyed and remained in place. She slid the blanket off his torso and helped him prop up against the bed frame. She then lifted his shirt to reveal his abdomen in order to check his bandages.

“Looks good. No bleeding through and the stitches have held. We’re just gonna clean it again and redress it with fresh bandages.”

“Sounds good to me. So I’ll be back on my feet soon?” he questioned.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, soldier. It’s still gonna take a few days for your wound to heal fully, so I’ll have to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t reopen it.”

“Got it. Didn’t realize it would take so long.”

“You’re not trying to run out on me already, are you?” she questioned.

“No, never.” he responded earnestly. They smiled at each other, eyes locked, before Sif turned away, a noticeable blush on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over the next week, Sif and Loki talked a lot, trading stories and anecdotes from their past with each other. The tent never filled up with more than 3 or 4 patients at a time, so Sif usually had time free to chat with Loki, when he wasn’t resting. They learned about each other’s families, their childhoods and upbringing, and their plans for the future. Sif learned that Loki was from Athens, Tennessee, and that he dreamed of becoming a musician, the piano his instrument of choice. But that dream didn’t sit too well with his military family, and so he found himself here, in the war he never wanted to be part of.

After a full week of treatment, Sif knew Loki would probably be healthy enough to go soon. She had come to enjoy spending time talking with him, more so than she did with any patients she treated previously. One morning, Sif had been requested to help at a different tent that saw a huge increase in traffic. When she returned back to her own, she noticed that Loki was gone, and the bed he occupied was freshly made.

“What happened to Private Laufeyson?” Sif asked her fellow nurse, Flora, who had been treating other soldiers in the same tent.

“He was discharged and sent back into the field while you were gone,” she answered.

“Oh, I see,” Sif responded, her voice lingering with disappointment. Even though she knew he would have to go eventually, she was sorry she didn’t get to say goodbye. And it was unlikely that she would run across him again, because the soldiers stayed in separate barracks far away from the medics. So unless he were injured again, which Sif prayed never happened, it would be the last time she saw him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several months had passed, and indeed Sif never saw Private Laufeyson again. The war ended not too long after, and everyone returned home and began to insert themselves back into civilian life. Sif moved back home with her sisters, and resumed her old life and job at the cafe. She continued to save up money to hopefully purchase a home of her own someday, though she knew how unlikely that was for an unbetrothed woman. But it was her only goal, and the only thing that gave her peace of mind after witnessing the horrors of war up close.

She thought about Loki often, when she had a quiet moment to herself, though she tried not to let her thoughts linger for too long. Though they had only known each other for a week, they shared enough of their stories and themselves for it to feel like a lot longer. The ugly side of being a army medic was that you prayed the soldiers you sent back onto the battlefield made it out of the war alive, but realistically it was not likely that they all would. Sif knew this, and tried not to think about the possibility of Loki not making it home. It would cause her too much grief, and she could not cope with that. So she focused on her work and life back home, always keeping busy enough to avoid her own thoughts.

On a particularly quiet and uneventful evening at the cafe, Sif found herself alone in the shop as it neared closing time. She began to bus the last of the dishes, piling them high in her carrying tray, her back to the door and windows. 

The door slowly opened behind her and the bell rang, alerting her of a new customer.

“Sorry, we’re closing” she yelled over her shoulder, not bothering to turn around.

“You mean to tell me I came all this way, to not be served?” A familiar voice questioned. 

Sif froze in her tracks, before letting the tray of dishes drop to the table, turning around slowly to meet the voice.

“Loki,” she whispered, tears in her eyes as she met his. “Why...how...are you here?”

“It took a bit of work, and a lot of visits to local cafes along the borderline of Ashland before I could finally track down this particular one. So forgive me for the lateness. But I will...”

Before he could finish his sentence, Sif rushed across the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. He happily obliged, grabbing Sif by the waist and pulling her closer to him, their lips pressed firmly against each other.

After a good while, they finally broke free. 

“Welcome back,” Sif smiled.

“It’s good to be home.” Loki had never been to Kentucky before, but he intended to stay there.

The war was over. Now their new lives could begin.


End file.
